Reducing ED Boarding While Funding Virtual Care

In their new article in npj Digital Medicine (Nature Portfolio), ATA's Andy Molnar and Lani Reilly highlight how outdated reimbursement policies are creating barriers, and why timely policy action, including a dedicated Medicare benefit, is critical to expanding access, reducing costs, and driving equitable, patient-centered digital care.

The evolving landscape of healthcare is writ large when it comes to small town hospitals. When operating on a smaller scale, vacant specializations are often sorely missed, and community members have little choice but to look elsewhere for care. Throw a global health crisis into the mix, and rural hospitals suffer disproportionately as the clinician labor shortage deepens. Here is a look at how one rural medical facility addressed the challenge and provided care to its community on its own terms.

While most IT and clinical leaders believe that inpatient acute virtual care will play an increasingly significant role in care delivery, the reality is that it is still in the early stages of adoption. Survey data reveals a surprising gap: 29% of organizations have no virtual care programs, even as hospital leaders rank it as a top priority.